


Runner in the Dark

by books_are_my_patronus1397



Series: The only 5am I wake up for [1]
Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Female Runner Five, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 07:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12076635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/books_are_my_patronus1397/pseuds/books_are_my_patronus1397
Summary: Runner Five's experience during and just after A Voice in the Dark (S1M7).  When Five thinks she can't go on any longer, one voice breaks through the static to lead her home.





	Runner in the Dark

He heard the pattering of gunshots over the crackle of 5’s headset.  _Runner from Abel Township_ …

 

Sam snatched the mic and leaned in. “It’s a trap!” As if that did any good.

 

“Take evasive maneuvers!” Janine yelled over his shoulder, glaring at the monitors.

 

His stomach twisted as he heard more gunshots and watched Runner 5 dodge the bullets. He couldn’t lose another Runner, not like this.  Not Five.  “What ‘evasive maneuvers’?” he snapped.  “This isn’t Top Gun!”

 

_Runner from Abel Township, you are surrounded! There is no hope for escape!_

 

Sam scanned the monitor desperately.  He was going to get his runner out of there, he had to. “There’s only one evasive maneuver available.  Runner Five? Runner Five, there’s a break in the—“

 

_Stop! Not a step further!_

 

He swallowed, his eyes glued to the screen. “Yeah, the wall of people surrounding you.  If you keep heading in the direction you’re going, you might go out of scanner range, but Runner Five—just run!”

 

He watched her dash through the swiftly disappearing break in the wall of people, waiting for the shot that would take her down.  But it never came. She just kept running. And then she disappeared.

 

Sam collapsed back in his chair, his nerves clamoring. Five had made it.  He looked up at Janine and almost flinched at the look on her face.  Her jaw clenched and she wouldn’t meet his eyes.  “Excuse me, Mr. Yao.”  Janine turned on her heel and marched out of the comms shack.

 

“Janine!” He called after her, but she kept walking. He was not about to abandon his post to go after her, not now.  Even if she wasn’t going to stay—after getting Five into trouble in the first place! – he would. He was going to be there when Five came back online and get her home safely. He had to.

 

But when darkness fell and Five still hadn’t come back, the knot in his chest felt like a lump of cold stone.  Sam ran his hand through his hair for what was probably the hundredth time.  It was a bad habit he had never been able to break and it always made him look more disheveled than usual, particularly when he was worried.  Right now, it looked like an upturned bird’s nest.

 

“Come on!” he growled at the comms, turning the dials to get just the right frequency.  "Runner Five, can you hear me?" She hadn’t answered him yet, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t listening. If he could just get through...

 

Only static greeted him. **She should’ve responded by now** _,_ an awful voice whispered in his brain. Sam shuddered and shook his head sharply, forcing back the panic and the tears that were bound to follow if he went down that road. “I’m not leaving this spot until she comes home,” he said resolutely.  He had to say it, make the promise out loud.  “She’s going to come home.”

 

He pulled himself closer to the desk and tried again.  “Runner Five, Runner Five, come in Runner Five…”

 

****

 

Five sucked in air as she braced herself against a tree. Her legs were numb and shaky and her side hurt.  She hadn’t run this far, at this speed, in a long time.  What with enemies shooting at her, on top of the standard zombie-evasion maneuvers, her body was fighting an interesting battle between fatigue and adrenaline. She knew which one was going to win, eventually.

 

She had gone too far afield escaping New Canton, she knew it.  And in the back of her mind, she was beginning to accept that she might not make it out of this one.  Five leaned her head against her arm, refusing to let any tears fall.  Instead, she got angry. It looked like even after a miraculous escape, New Canton was going to kill her anyway.

 

Five flinched as static from what she thought was her dead headset flared in her ear. _Runner Five, Runner Five, come in, Runner Five…Can you hear me? … Runner Five… Come in, Runner Five, if you’re out there…Runner Five, calling Runner Five, come in Runner…_ the static drowned out the rest of his sentence but it was enough to make her smile in relief.

 

“Sam?” The only answer she got was static. “Come on, come on,” she concentrated, shutting her eyes in the hopes that she could force the signal to return. 

 

The static cleared again. _Runner Five…I don’t know if you can hear me. Our scanner’s down._

 

Five cursed.  It was going to be that much harder to find her way back.

 

“I can hear you Sam,” she murmured. He must not be able to hear her, though. Her frantic flight had led to a slight tumble and it must have damaged the microphone.  But just hearing him was enough to push some energy into her shaking legs.  It was funny. When she first started running for Able, she hadn’t thought having his voice in her ear would become such a comfort.  But out here, in the dark, his voice told her she wasn’t alone.

 

 _It never works that well at night anyway, and a couple of bits of equipment have broken down so…so there’s no way to see where you are._ He sounded so forlorn, she wished she could talk back and give him some assurance.  But at least now she knew how things stood.

 

 _Truth is, I…I don’t even know if you’re alive._ She felt a chill run down her back. If he stopped believing she was out there…

 

_Odds aren’t good right? Hey odds aren’t good for any of us, but I’m still…well. I guess I’m still alive, and that’s about all I can say._

 

“I’ll take it,” she said with a small smile. “Hang in there, Sam. Please.”  Five squared her shoulders, fixed her eyes ahead, and began to run.

 

****

 

It wasn’t too long before Sam’s voice cut through the thunderous sound of her labored breathing again.

 

 _Runner Five, we…we don’t know where you are. We know you didn’t get taken by New Canton, we managed to track that much. But you haven’t come back. It’s the middle of the night, Runner Five, and there’s a reason we don’t send patrols out at night.  If you’re where we think you might be – to the north – the area’s swarming with zombies._  

 

He wasn’t wrong.  She could hear the chorus of groans in the night air, like you used to hear crickets in the years before the apocalypse.  They were a comfortable enough distance away from her, for now, but she knew she didn’t have long. _They often head for us at night. If they get here before you, we’re…we’re going to have to bar the gates.  There’ll be no way for you to get in, and we’ll…we’ll have to watch…_ Five closed her eyes against the pain she heard in his voice. She heard it in too many people nowadays. But hearing it in him hurt.

 

_You’re not even my second Runner Five, you know that? You’re my fourth. I guess there’s no better reason you’d make it back than any of the others. But we’ve put the red beacon on top of the tower, so if you can see it, my best advice is…run._

 

Five snapped her head up, but she couldn’t see anything through the leaves of the trees.  She was going to have to climb to get her heading and her muscles were already protesting the thought.  But no way in hell was she going to die out here, not when Sam had given her a chance to make it.  Not when he’s already had to watch four Runner Fives not come back.

 

She hoisted herself up into the tree and climbed, gritting her teeth against the scrapes and ignoring the branches snagging her hair.  Once she got high enough to see the red beacon, a lot further away than she would like to admit, she half climbed, half fell back to the ground.

 

“I’m coming back,” she promised. Whether she promised Sam or herself, it didn't matter. It was a promise she wasn't about to break.  As she ran through the trees, zombie groans trailed in her wake.

 

****

_So…I’m just going to keep talking for a while. I mean, for all I know, I could be talking into the ear of a zombie._

 

He was too close to being right. Her chest burned. Partly from fear but mostly from exhaustion.  The zoms were getting closer and when she stopped moving for too long her body would start to shake.  So she refused to stop.

 

 _But, hey_ , he laughed, _undead fiend who used to be my friend, Runner Five – at least I can irritate you with the sound of food you can’t get at._

 

Five laughed breathlessly, feeling a bloom of renewed energy. He had called her his friend.  She never really had friends at Mullins base, and since the apocalypse things like that seemed less important. Even dangerous.  But right now, it was keeping her alive.

 

Sam kept talking and his voice kept her focused.  She could forget about the stinging scratches or the throb in her left ankle. She could almost ignore the chorus of growls in the trees around her.

 

 _We have to remember what it was like, so we know what we’re building don’t we? Now, I don’t mean escalators, and shopping malls, and frozen yogurt … ooh, although I could really go for an ice cream roll right now._ Five made a face.  She couldn’t think about eating. Her stomach was already heaving and she didn’t have anything in it. _Do you remember those things? Cake outside, and ice cream in the middle…or was it… was it the other way around? I don’t even remember anymore! Hang on, wait, wait, hang on – I’ll go and check._

 

She shook her head.  “Come on Sam, it’s ice cream in the middle.  How else would you eat it?”

 

 _Okay, hi. Right, so, yeah, um…two things: A) Well, I was right. It was cake outside and ice cream inside._ Five raised her eyebrows in a ‘told you so’ look, which he of course couldn’t see. _B) Apparently, checking this is not a good reason to wake Janine up in the middle of the night, okay?_   That startled an actual laugh out of her. She hoped Janine hadn't been too harsh.

 

Five slid down a slope, caking her hands in dirt as she tried to keep some semblance of balance. Sam chatted about his family, his school, and how he thought his parents wouldn’t be proud of him for what he was doing now.  She frowned and coaxed some more speed out of her legs.  Why wouldn’t they be proud? He saved runners’ lives every day!

 

By now, the sweat from the day had dried in the cool night air and goosebumps prickled her skin.  Her bones felt cold, as cold as the red light she was running for.

 

The world suddenly lurched and Five slammed to the ground. Pain screamed through her wrist and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out and bringing the zoms right to her. She cradled her arm close to her body, and the tears she had beaten back a little bit ago finally broke through. It seemed the universe was trying it’s hardest to keep her from Abel.  Her body ached everywhere and felt thirty pounds heavier. It would be so easy to just . . . stop.

 

_And he’s probably dead, and maybe I’m the only person left alive who remembers him at all anymore, and… and maybe, you know, well, maybe that’s how it’ll be with you, Runner Five. If you’re gone, who’ll be left to remember you?_

_Ooh, yeah, ugh, sorry. Guess that’s not too inspiring._

 

Five laughed through the pain. “No shit.”

 

_Uh, what I mean is… run, Runner Five. Run on home. If you can._

 

She couldn’t refuse that voice. “Okay,” she breathed and got to her feet.  “Okay.”

 

Time seem suspended as she continued to run. It seemed like she would have to run forever, with no end.  But despite her iron will, her physical strength was flagging.  So was her awareness.  It was taking everything she had to keep moving, and when she crested yet another hill, it took her longer than it should have to recognize the outline of Able’s walls. Once she did, Five would have cried with relief if she only had the energy. 

 

_They said to me just now I should probably hit the sack sometime soon. They’ll send on someone else to keep sending out pings through the night, but I’ve gotta be honest… we’re losing hope here. A couple of zoms have arrived at the gates, and that usually means the bigger horde is on its way. Maybe only a few minutes ‘til we bar the gate._

 

“No, no, no, no.”  Desperation fueled her now. She could see the gate, and the moving shadows in front of it that must be the zoms.  She was so damn close!

 

_Maybe you’re better off, see, is what I’m saying. I know we’re not supposed to say that, but… but sometimes I think… Maybe, if you don’t have to try to build the future, you’re one of the lucky ones._

 

She used to think that, she did.  But right now, she couldn’t bear the thought of Sam giving up on her. Right now, _she_ didn’t want to give up.  She wanted to make it through those gates.

 

_Maybe…What? What is it? I told you, the scanner’s down, we can’t… Oh my god, is that… Runner Five! I can see you!_

 

Five grinned, out of breath to do anything else. Blood pounded in her ears, and her feet were numb.  But he saw her.

 

_Runner Five? Runner Five, if you can hear me, I can see you! Oh my god, Runner Five… You can’t see them, but there’s a tail behind you. Zombies, about thirty of them. They’re getting closer, I-I dunno, they make that sound at night._

She could definitely hear them now. The growling spurred her to a speed she didn’t think she had in her. Sam’s voice faded away in her ear, like he was running away from the mic. 

 

_Raise the gates!_

 

Gunshots popped through the night air.  The gates loomed nearer and Five threw herself across the threshold, stumbling and collapsing to the dirt, having just enough wherewithal to avoid landing on her injured wrist. Behind her, the gates crashed down.  Her muscles cramped with fatigue and her stomach heaved, but nothing came up.

 

Gravel skittered and she jerked back on instinct. But it was Sam, kneeling in front of her. “Hey, hey,” he said gently.  “We’ve got you, Runner Five.”

 

Five reached out with her shaking, uninjured hand and he took it. She grasped his tightly and from the worry on his face she must’ve looked worse than she felt—and she felt pretty damn bad.

 

“Mr. Yao!”

 

Five looked up to see Janine and Maxine running towards them. There were quite a few more people here than she had first thought, especially for so late at night.  But they stayed a good distance back, and it took her tired brain a few moments to understand why. It was the look on Janine’s face that finally clued her in. She supposed she should've been offended. But right now she was just glad they didn't actually have anything to worry about.

 

“Mr. Yao, you should give her some space,” Janine said.  Maxine was not so subtly checking Five’s bare skin for signs that she had been infected.

 

“What, why?” Sam asked. Then it dawned on him that the space wasn’t for Five’s benefit, but for his own. “Oh come on, she’s fine!” He turned to look at her. “You’re fine, right?” That slight tinge of concern made her smile and she nodded.

 

“Yes, I’m fine,” she assured him, once her voice started working.  “But Janine’s right, Able has protocol for this.”  Which was true. But neither of them let go of the other’s hand.

 

Maxine stepped closer, noting how tightly Five was holding on to Sam, even if Five’s face betrayed no emotional turmoil.  “No scratches or bites?”

 

Five shook her head.  “No bites. The only scratches I have I got from the tree branches. I think my wrist is the worst.”

 

“What? What did you do?” Sam snapped, finally noticing how she held her left hand close to her body.

 

Five just shrugged but Maxine was already kneeling down to take a look.  “All right, we need to get you to the medical tent. Come on,” she and Sam both hoisted Five to her feet.

 

As soon as she stood straight, her vision blurred and she swayed. Her legs felt like jelly and barely obeyed her commands to stand, let alone move forward any more. Sam’s arm tightened around her waist, steadying her. “I’ve got ya,” he murmured.

 

Maxine looked between the two of them.  “I’ll go get a station ready, so we can start the examination as soon as possible.”  Janine was already shooing people back to wherever they should be, studiously avoiding eye contact with Five.

 

Her ankle had decided to make it’s complaints a lot louder, and her limp grew more pronounced as she and Sam hobbled across the base towards the medical tent. Sam chattered on, while sneaking glances at her injuries, about proper running technique and how people should really try to watch where they’re _going_ when running through the woods, because it’s easy to fall and break something and then they can’t move and there are so many ways people can die out there without anyone back home knowing… 

 

“It is cool with me, you know,” she interrupted.

 

He cocked his head, halting his scolding for the moment.  “What is?”

 

“Calling me your friend.”

 

Sam’s eyes widened a bit and then he gave an embarrassed laugh.  “Aah, so, you, uh, you heard all that did you?”

 

“ ‘All that saved’ my life,” she admitted.  “I’m—“ she faltered over the words. Man, she wasn’t good at this.  “I’m glad we’re friends.”

 

Sam grinned at her, in that way that made even the apocalypse seem not so bad.  But before she had to decide what else to say, they were inside the medical tent. Maxine rushed over and helped Five onto a cot, pursing her lips at the swollen ankle, and taking her wrist with cool, gentle fingers.

 

“I’m going to have to do a full examination now, Sam,” she said.  “You should really go get some sleep.” It wasn’t really a suggestion, but Sam didn't seem to notice.

 

He looked at Five, waiting for her to tell him it was okay to leave before following Maxine’s orders.  If Five was honest with herself—and she was exhausted enough to be more honest than usual—she didn’t want him to leave. But she could see the dark circles under his eyes, the way his shoulders drooped.  She knew he would stay with her if she wanted. But she couldn’t bring herself to ask that of him.

 

With not too little effort, Five slipped her hand out of his and gave him a shaky smile.  “It’s all right Sam.”

 

“You’re sure?”

 

Five nodded and then shooed him away with her good hand.  “Go.”

 

“All right, well, if you need anything just—“ a yawn betrayed him, but he continued through it.  “Just wake me up, okay? Doc?”

 

Maxine steered him out.  “If we need anything you’ll be the first to know.”

 

Once Sam had left, it finally hit her that she was alive. She was safe.

 

Maxine turned in surprise when Five’s voice hitched.  Her runner was crying.

 

“Here now,” Maxine rushed to her side.  “What’s this?”

 

Five leaned in to Maxine's sensible shoulder as the tears shuddered through her.  She didn’t catch what it was Maxine murmured but it didn't matter.  Because not only was she alive and safe. She was home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little something I needed to get out of my head. I'm not sure what this will become--series, or chaptered story, or standalone--but here it is. (Italics note someone speaking through radio/headsets rather than in person)


End file.
